ADP Joins STEM Mentoring Initiative “Million Women Mentors”

Partnership Seeks to Engage More Than One Million Girls & Young Women in STEM Education and Careers

ROSELAND, N.J. – January 8, 2014 – ADP®, a leading global provider of Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions, today announced its sponsorship and collaboration with the Million Women Mentors® (MWM) initiative. MWM will launch Jan. 8, 2014 during National Mentoring Month, in Washington, D.C. at the National Press Club. The initiative will support the engagement of one million science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) mentors – male and female – to increase the interest and confidence of girls and young women to pursue and succeed in STEM degrees and careers.

“Encouraging young people, particularly young women, to consider STEM careers is an important initiative that has significant social and economic benefits, that is why ADP supports several higher learning institutions and non-profit organizations that include this focus in their mission,” said ADP President and CEO Carlos Rodriguez. “Supporting the Million Women Mentors program is a great opportunity for us to expand our efforts and we hope other companies across the country will join us.”

In the past 10 years, growth in STEM jobs has been three times greater than that of non-STEM jobs. Today 80% of the fastest growing occupations in the United States depend on mastery of mathematics and knowledge and skills in hard sciences. While women comprise 48% of the U.S. workforce, just 24% are in STEM fields, a statistic that has held constant for nearly the last decade. Even though 75% of all college students are women and students of color, they represent only 45% of STEM degrees earned each year. Too many of these young women begin in STEM programs but leave those degree paths despite their good academic standing, often citing uncomfortable classroom experiences and disconcerting climate. Even when women earn a STEM degree, they are less likely than their male counterparts to work in a STEM field even though STEM jobs pay more and have a lower wage gap: 92 cents on a dollar versus 75 cents in other fields.*

One STEM initiative launched in 2013 by ADP’s Cobalt division, which supplies digital marketing solutions to the automotive industry, is “Girls Who Code.” Girls Who Code is an eight-week paid summer internship program for high school girls who have studied Advanced Placement computer science. It offers a highly-structured approach where two-girl teams are given a project to complete along with a mentor to guide them. Other opportunities to interact with Cobalt professionals to get advice, mentoring and career insights are provided, particularly by women associates.

“Girls Who Code is a perfect fit with our diversity and inclusion goals at ADP, as is Million Women Mentors,” said Rita Mitjans, Chief Diversity and Corporate Social Responsibility officer at ADP. “It is programs like these that will positively contribute to economic growth by empowering a significant segment of the workforce and help us to attract and retain the next generation of STEM talent among young women.”

Million Women Mentors is a collective effort of more than 41 non-profit, media, education and government industry partners and nine corporate sponsors. During National Mentoring Month ADP will actively engage its Executive Women In Leadership group, IT leaders across the company and ADP’s Regional Diversity Councils and Resource Groups, to bring awareness to the issue of increasing girls in STEM and recruit mentors for the MWM initiative.

With more than $11 billion in revenues and more than 60 years of experience, ADP® (NASDAQ: ADP) serves approximately 620,000 clients in more than 125 countries. As one of the world's largest providers of business outsourcing and Human Capital Management solutions, ADP offers a wide range of human resource, payroll, talent management, tax and benefits administration solutions from a single source, and helps clients comply with regulatory and legislative changes, such as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). ADP's easy-to-use solutions for employers provide superior value to companies of all types and sizes. ADP is also a leading provider of integrated computing solutions to auto, truck, motorcycle, marine, recreational vehicle, and heavy equipment dealers throughout the world. For more information about ADP, visit the company's Web site at www.adp.com.

Million Women Mentors® (MWM) is a collective national campaign and program with the purpose of captivating one million mentors to link with one million girls and young professionals for their STEM careers. Through its efforts MWM works to showcase existing best practice and suggestions for the future. Utilizing a technology portal built in three phases and developed in collaboration with Tata Consultancy Services, MWM technology will enable mentor services for the nation. The MWM website and program will launch January 8, 2014. The program is a collective effort of founding partners including 35 non-profits and major corporations and will also reach government agencies. MWM is an initiative of STEMconnector®, a company which works closely with corporations and other organizations to assist in corporate development, corporate structure and smart STEM investments. Founding sponsors include (as of 12-12): Accenture, Cisco, Sodexo, Tata Consultancy Services, Walmart, Microsoft, ADP, GM, Adecco, Intellectual Ventures and UST Global.

About STEMconnector®:

STEMconnector® is THE information resource and source of best practices – The one-stop for Who’s Doing What in STEM Education and STEM jobs. STEMconnector®’s web site contains 6,500 profiles of stakeholders in STEM Education. STEMconnector®’s purpose is to map STEM activity of organizations, government, private sector, education, associations, diversity and women. STEMconnector® works through collaboration with its members and partners. Members are in all sectors. STEM Council meetings are offered three times a year to members and these are business, government, education and non-profits.